Proven US Alliance Lying Over Chemical Weapons Attack

The Russian and Syrian denials are true if they are innocent and lies if they are guilty of the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed 90 people including 30 children in Syria. However Trump, US and US Alliance certitude over Russian and Syrian guilt is clear, proven, warmongering lying in the absence of findings from expert and independent investigators. Meanwhile a mass murdering, child-killing Trump continues to make endless war on famine-wracked Somalia and Yemen where half of the starving populations of 11.2 million and 27.9 million, respectively, are children.

From 2011 in a process of egregious state terrorism and state-sponsored non-state terrorism, the US, UK, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Apartheid Israel, Jordan and Turkey have variously backed rebellion against the Syrian Government under Bashar al-Assad by increasingly jihadi-dominated Sunni Syrian rebels that include the Free Syrian Army and jihadi groups like Al-Nusrah. The secular and democratic Kurds, violently opposed by a decreasingly secular and decreasingly democratic Turkey, have contained the Turkey-facilitated IS (Islamic State) in the north. The fanatical and barbarous Sunni jihadi IS (that was generated by the genocidal and war criminal US Alliance invasion of Iraq and has been variously covertly supported by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Apartheid Israel and Turkey) dominates the eastern half of Syria but now faces inevitable eventual destruction in Iraq by US Alliance, Iranian and Iraqi forces and in Syria by everybody. Russian, Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah support has been crucial for the survival of the Syrian Government which is now dominant in the western half of Syria through control of the 3 biggest cities, Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. The US Alliance-backed Syrian Genocide has been associated so far with 0.5 million violent deaths, a comparable number of deaths from war-imposed deprivation, and 11 million refugees, 6 million of whom are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) [1, 2].

Syria is presently subdivided into (a) the Apartheid Israel-occupied Golan Heights, (b) Rebel- and non-IS jihadi-ruled areas, (c) Syrian Government-ruled areas, (d) Kurdish-ruled areas, and (e) IS-ruled areas. With the likely defeat of IS in the near future, Syria may have a chance under Assad or a like-minded leader of reverting to its former unitary existence. However a re-unified Syria is opposed by a Zionist-subverted US and Apartheid Israel that want the destruction of Syria by Balkanization for reasons connected with divide-and-rule hegemony, gas and oil exploitation and distribution plans, and, I suspect, Apartheid Israeli need for water. Trump’s escalation of the Syrian crisis to a pre-WW3 level over 30 murdered children is simply a pretext for intervention to trump and cripple Russian-backed Syrian re-unification as discussed below.

Alleged chemical weapons use as a pretext for US Alliance invasion, conquest and Balkanization of Syria.

The US Alliance would like a “free fly zone” in Syria that would enable destruction of Syria (formerly the most religiously tolerant country in the Middle East) [3] just as a UN-permitted “free fly zone” enabled the France-UK-US (FUKUS) Alliance destruction of Libya (formerly the most prosperous country in Africa). In 2013 the US Alliance used alleged Syrian Government use of poison gas in the Ghouta atrocity as the basis for demanding formal UN green-lighting of US Alliance intervention. However this move was thwarted by Russian intervention that forced the Syrian Government to hand over such weapons for destruction and sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) [4, 5], noting that it is clear that both the US Alliance-backed Rebels as well as the Syrian Government had access to such weapons [6-8 ].

Presently 192 states, including Syria, have signed the CWC but genocidal, serial war criminal Apartheid Israel has signed but not ratified it, and Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan have not signed. One notes that chemical weapons have been seen as a “poor man’s weapon of mass destruction” and nuclear terrorist Apartheid Israel has an arsenal of up to 400 nuclear weapons [9]. 5 UN member countries have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) , of which 4 have nuclear weapons (India, Apartheid Israel, Pakistan and North Korea) ( South Sudan has also not signed). Egypt’s refusal to sign the CWC is directly connected with nuclear terrorist Apartheid Israel’s refusal to sign the NPT [8].

The recent suspected chemical weapons atrocity in Syria (at Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib with 90 killed, including 30 children) has been used as a pretext for a massive and war criminal US attack on Syria, US adumbration for further attacks, and renewed US calls for the removal of Bashar al-Assad (regime change). The US actions, threats and demands have been supported by the US Alliance with the endlessly warmongering, anti-Arab anti-Semitic, pro-Zionist, US lackey Australian Government and Opposition united in their support for the US position (in contrast, the humane Australian Greens have been quite sceptical and have suggested the US attack was for domestic political reasons). The Syrian Government and the Russians deny the alleged use of chemical weapons.

Syrian Rebel and jihadi possession of chemical weapons.

Unlike the CMC signatory Syrian Government, the US Alliance-backed non-state Rebels are not bound by the CMC and indeed are evidently in possession of chemical weapons. Thus back in 2013 Carla Del Ponte (formerly Switzerland’s attorney general, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and a member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria) indicated that there was evidence that rebel groups had access to sarin nerve gas: “According to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated … I was a little bit stupefied by the first indications we got… they were about the use of nerve gas by the opposition” [10].

Seymour Hersh (Pullitzer Prize-winning journalist for his expose of US Government cover-up of the Vietnam Mylai Massacre) on the US-UK attempt to invade Syria based on a chemical weapons lie (2013): “In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress. Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons… Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia… Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff. The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack ” [11].

There is no conclusive report yet from an expert independent inquiry into the Khan Sheikhoun disaster.

Obviously, in the absence of conclusions from an expert, independent inquiry the world does not yet know who was responsible for the alleged chemical gas attack that killed about 90 people including about 30 children in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the Idlib region of north-western Syria. Trump and many US Alliance lackeys immediately and unequivocally blamed the Syrians for using chemical weapons. However the Syrians and Russians have suggested that the chemical incident arose because of the bombing of a Rebel/jihadi warehouse containing chemical weapons. A search of the UK BBC and the Australian ABC (the Australian equivalent of the UK BBC) reveals that the phrase “suspected chemical attack” is widely and indeed properly used by both media. UK Labour Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, demanded independent verification: “Unilateral military action without legal authorisation or independent verification risks intensifying a multi-sided conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people.” However, US lackey, UK PM Theresa May, indicated the lack of proof in tweeting: “”We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances. If proven, this will be further evidence of the Syrian regime’s barbarism” – but then supported the US strike.

Donald Trump and US lackey politicians of the US Alliance have no such equivocation and declared that (a) a chemical attack happened and (b) the Syrian was government was responsible (with Russia sharing the blame). Donald Trump declared: “Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.” US lackey Canadian PM Justin Trudeau supported the US attack and widened the blame to countries supporting Assad: “Countries that have been supportive of the Assad regime bear some of the responsibility for the chemical attacks on civilians”. US lackeys Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten blamed Syria and supported the US strike, as did US lackeys President German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. Of course, Apartheid Israel, the nuclear terrorist tail wagging the American dog, supported the US strike.

The Russian Government in a statement about the chemical incident stated : “[Putin] pointed out that it was unacceptable to make groundless accusations against anyone without conducting a detailed and unbiased investigation” [12].

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the US strike and demanded an impartial investigation: “We are asking for an impartial international fact-finding body to be set up… to find out where these chemical weapons came from” [13].

Sergei Lavrov ( Russian Foreign Minister): “[US strikes are] an act of aggression under a completely invented pretext…Everything resembles the situation of 2003, when the USA, the U.K., and several of their allies invaded Iraq without the UN Security Council’s approval – a grave violation of international law – but at that point they at least tried to show some [concocted] material evidence” [14].

Robert Fisk (eminent UK journalist based in Beirut ): “So did Bashar al-Assad use gas? The Russians must know. They are in the air bases, in the ministries, in the military headquarters. And if they say the Syrians did not use gas, then they had better be sure. The Russians had advance warning of Trump’s 59 Cruise missiles. Many hours of warning – not the one hour that Washington claims – and would have ensured that Syrian jets were way out of the air base. Russians are not to be killed in the Syrian war; their presence would have meant casualties. Did the Syrian army, a trifle arrogant, perhaps, after their capture of eastern Aleppo decide to try to bring the war to an end in a quick way? The question must be asked. In the past, villages in which army officers lived – and in which their families lived – have been gassed. The Syrians blamed the Turks for giving the gas to Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and Isis. The Russians said earlier gas attacks on Damascus used chemical components shipped via Turkey to Syria from Libya” [15].

Sacha Llorenti (Sacha Sergio Llorenti Soliz, Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Nations) addressing the UN Security Council (UNSC) about the US attack on Syria: “[As the UNSC was] discussing and demanding the need for an independent and impartial investigation [into the Idlib atrocity, the US was] preparing—once again—to carry out a unilateral attack… The United States has not only unilaterally attacked, the United States has become that investigator, has become the prosecutor, has become the judge, has become the jury. Whereas the investigation would have allowed us to establish in an objective manner who is responsible for the attacks, this is an extreme, extreme violation of international law… [UN has] developed instruments of international law to precisely prevent a situation where the most powerful attack the weakest with impunity and to ensure a balance in the world… [historically] many episodes in which…various powers… have acted unilaterally and violently. But that it happened once again does not mean that the UN must accept it… On Wednesday, February 5, 2003, the U.S. Secretary of State came to this room and came to present to us, according to his own words, “convincing proof that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” … [holding the image of Powell] I believe that we must absolutely remember these pictures…We were told that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and this was the motivation for the invasion. After the invasion there were 1 million deaths and it launched a series of atrocities in that region. Could we talk about [the Islamic State] if that invasion had not taken place? Could we talk about the serious and horrendous attacks in various parts of the world if that illegal invasion had not taken place? I believe it is vital to remember what history teaches us” [16].

Farooque Chowdhury( Dhaka, Bangladesh writer): “With the pounding of 59 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles on Shayrat airbase in Syria the Empire has widened its aggression in the strategically crucial country… Following a chemical weapon attack in East Ghouta in Syria in 2013, the Syrian authorities agreed to transfer its chemical weapons to international control for destruction so that these weapons don’t fall into the hands of militants operating in the country. Syria also joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons following the chemical weapon attack. The Office for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in January 2016 that all chemical weapons in Syria had been destroyed. Those were destroyed on board a US vessel, and were destroyed under UN supervision… Doesn’t fairness demand that there should be a multi-national, full-fledged investigation of the reported chemical weapons attack in the vicinity of the Khan Shaykhun settlement in the Idlib province on April 4? The OPCW is in the process of gathering and analyzing information from all available sources. In this context isn’t the US missile attack an imperialist intervention?” [17].

Cui bono & Means, Opportunity and Motive (MOM) – Rebels and jihadis had means and opportunity, benefited immensely from the gas attack disaster, and may have been responsible.

In any incident of unproven attribution one can ask: “Cui bono?” – who benefits? The Syrians have suffered immensely from this attack whereas the Rebels/jihadis have benefited enormously. The Rebels/jhihadis had opportunity and had access to chemical weapons whereas the Syrian government supposedly surrendered all such weapons in its possession for US-monitored destruction after a similar (and likely similarly mis-attributed) gas attack incident at Ghouta in 2013. Consider the following expert opinions:

Dmitry Peskov (Kremlin spokesperson): “The fact is that we no longer know what goals Washington pursued when deciding to carry out these strikes, but it is univocal that they are launched de facto in the interests of Daesh [IS], al-Nusra Front and other terrorists. In this connection, we can only express regret… So far, it can be said unequivocally that these strikes did harm to the fight against terrorism… We deeply regret this and are very much concerned in this regard” [18].

Günther Meyer (director of the Research Center for the Arab World at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz): “Only armed opposition groups could profit from an attack with chemical weapons. With their backs against the wall, they have next to no chance of opposing the regime militarily. As President [Donald] Trump’s recent statements show, such actions make it possible for anti-Assad groups to receive further support” [19].

Matthias von Hein (editor at Deutsche Welle): “Is the regime of President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the chemical weapons attack in northern Syria? Experts suggest it could have been jihadi rebels. It wouldn’t be the first time… Obama’s Director of National Intelligence at the time [of the 2013 Ghouta attack] , James Clapper, was able to dissuade Obama from ordering a cruise missile strike, according to a newly-published book by Mideast expert Michael Lüders. Presumably, a deciding factor was an analysis of the chemical weapons used in Ghouta, conducted by a British military lab, which found the gas to be of a different composition than the Syrian army possessed. … Assad has not hesitated to use ruthless means to stay in power. In confronting the most recent use of chemical weapons in Syria, credible questions remain as to why Assad would bring world opinion against him at a time when his continued rule is beginning to be accepted” [20].

Patrick Henningsen (writer, investigative journalist, filmmaker, founder of the news website 21stCentury Wire.com and an Associate Editor of the Alternative news site Infowars.com ): “The US-led ‘Coalition’ prepares to make its end-run into Syria to ‘Retake Raqqa,’ and impose its Safe Zones in order to partition Syria, more media demonization of the Syrian government appears to be needed by the West. On cue, the multi-billion dollar US and UK media machines sprung into overdrive this morning over reports based primarily from their own ‘activist’ media outlets. Aleppo Media Centerand others embedded in the Al Nusra-dominated terrorist stronghold of Idlib, Syria, alongside their media counterpart the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) funded by the UK and EU, are all now claiming that the Syrian and Russian Airforces have launched a chemical weapons airstrike killing civilians in Idlib. In their report today entitled “Syria conflict: “chemical attack” on Idlib kils 58”, the BBC is also alleging in their report that Sarin gas was used. The alleged “chemical airstrikes” are said to have taken place in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km south of the city of Idlib. Predictably, the BBC and other similar reports by CNN, have triggered a wave of ‘consensus condemnation’ and indignation by the usual voices… But is the mainstream media’s version of events what actually happened?… In 2013, the US and UK went on an all-out propaganda blitz to try and implicate the Syrian Government in advance of war votes in both Washington and London. The campaign failed. The following are links to a small sample of factual reports publicly available which clearly show that the alleged “Sarin Attack” in 2013 [on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta] was in fact the work of western and Gulf-backed ‘opposition rebels’ (terrorists) and not the Assad government, and all of these reports have been more or less ignored by CNN, BBC and the entirety of the western mainstream media – because they do not fit into the western ‘regime change’ and US-led military intervention narrative: Seymour M. Hershhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line …” [21].

Bill Van Auken (politician and activist for the Socialist Equality Party and was a presidential candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2004): “The day after US warships rained some 60 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian government airbase, US officials made it clear that this unilateral and criminal attack against an oppressed former colonial country is merely the first shot in what is to be an escalating and widening campaign of American military aggression. The governor of Syria’s central Homs province reported Friday that the missiles killed at least 15 people, including nine civilians. Four of the dead were children. Many more civilians were injured by two of the missiles, which struck nearby villages. Six of the dead were Syrian personnel at the al-Shairat airbase. The missile strike was the first time that Washington has carried out a direct military attack against Syrian government forces since the US and its regional allies orchestrated a war for regime change utilizing Al Qaeda-linked Islamist “rebels” as its proxy ground troops. The attack on the airbase is a direct intervention in that war on the side of the Al Qaeda elements… Washington seized on an alleged incident Tuesday involving chemical weapons in the village of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province as the pretext for Thursday night’s attack. Syria has denied any use of such weapons, and Washington and its allies have presented no evidence to support their allegations in relation to the incident, which has all the earmarks of a provocation staged by the CIA and its Islamist proxies”[22].

Dr Jon V. Kofas (retired university professor of history specializing in International Political economy, and author of ten academic books and two dozens scholarly articles): “Nothing unifies America at home and rallies support among its allies quicker than a bombing of a Muslim nation, no matter the ideological, political, and moral justifications about the military option as a first resort before or after the bombing… This is not to imply that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad (2000-present) has been politically and socially just; certainly no more so than others in the region allied with the US against Syria in the civil war started in 2011 and intended to bring down the regime that the US, UK, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Israel, [Qatar] and Turkey oppose…. On 6 March 2017, the US hit Syrian Shayrat Airfield with 59 missiles from two ships in the Eastern Mediterranean. The reason given was that US officials “believed” – not knew as and had verified by the UN – that Damascus was responsible for the use of gas warfare against jihadist rebel targets a few days before where 100 civilians died. The UN Security Council had requested time to investigate the use of chemical weapons to determine what actually took place. Russia argued that Syria’s chemical weapons had been removed in 2014 and that its planes hit a gas chemical weapons site belonging to jihadists, thus releasing the toxic chemicals that killed innocent civilians” [23].

Jim Miles (Canadian educator and a regular contributor to The Palestine Chronicle): “It is apparent given the timelines and the lack of time given to verifying the validity of accusations concerning the gas attack in [Idlib] Syria, that plans had already been coordinated for such an attack … Who benefits? As for the chemical attacks, if one does use some rationality, meaning who benefits from it, the answer is definitely not Assad, and Assad should not be mistaken for either stupid or irrational. The beneficiaries are ISIS and al-Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria). One of the side line winners as always with U.S. military mayhem in the region, is Israel, a country all our politicians seem to fawn over in spite of their terrible human rights and international law record. Israel would love to have all the rest of the Middle East broken up into fighting little fragments of tribal groups in order that their tribe can dominate the region, its resources, and perhaps find a ‘final solution’ to the Palestinian demographic problem” [24].

Dr Tim Anderson (humane Australian academic and author of “The Dirty War on Syria” [25]): “There is no independent evidence and no plausible motive to implicate the Syrian Government. The main sources of this allegation are those working closely with the al Qaeda groups … I have a responsibility to educate the public, especially in face of the constant misinformation from Australia’s corporate and state media” [26]. Dr Tim Anderson has further stated: “The chemical attack is certainly a war crime, but there is no real independent evidence that it was carried out by the Syrian government… The main sources of this allegation [of Syrian/Russian guilt] are those working closely with the al Qaeda groups and they have a history of deceit. On the other hand, there is a long history, from 2012 onwards, of the al Qaeda groups using chemical weapons, at time falsely blaming this on the Syrian Army… The Syrian Army certainly has been bombing and killing many hundreds within the al Qaeda groups in Idlib, without need for CW. Nor does the Syrian state possess such weapons, since the unilateral disposals of 2013 – 2014, which were held as a deterrent against nuclear armed Israel. The US (which was involved in the process) has previously agreed that this disposal was effectively carried out. On the other hand, al Qaeda stocks of chemicals have been discovered several times, including early this year in east Aleppo. See this report: http://www.mintpressnews.com/syrian-soldiers-allegedly-find-saudi-chemical-weapons-in-east-aleppo/224204/ “ [27].

I offered the following in defence of Dr Tim Anderson in his exchange with the Australian ABC’s Media Watch program: “Dr Tim Anderson’s comments, his appended statement and his alternative suggested hypothesis of a jihadi false flag are eminently reasonable and consistent with numerous correct ABC reports of a suspected/alleged chemical weapons attack that the US and US Alliance blame on the Syrians/Russians, an allegation that the Syrians/Russians deny. However the Media Watch segment while not being formally incorrect had a slimy bias best exampled by “But in the face of that [US Alliance] chorus of certainty a bizarre coalition of the Hard Left and Extreme Right has joined the Russians and Syrians to cast doubt on it all”. In 2013 the Russians persuaded the Syrian Government to surrender chemical weapons for destruction but the UN found evidence that such weapons were in the hands of the Rebels/jihadis. The Russians/Syrians may be lying (if guilty) or telling the truth (if innocent) but the US/US Alliance certitude in the absence of findings from expert independent investigation is unequivocal lying and indeed “fake news” whatever the reality” [26].

The US attack on Syria was an imperialist aggression on a dubious pretext.

In the absence of an expert independent investigation, the US attack on Syria was clearly simply another imperialist aggression on a dubious pretext. Thus the following expert opinions:

Professor Francis A. Boyle ( international law, human rights and genocide expert) on US attack on Syria: “Historically, this latest eruption of American militarism at the start of the 21st Century is akin to that of America opening the 20th Century by means of the U.S.-instigated Spanish-American War in 1898. Then the Republican administration of President William McKinley stole their colonial empire from Spain in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; inflicted a near genocidal war against the Filipino people; while at the same time illegally annexing the Kingdom of Hawaii and subjecting the Native Hawaiian people (who call themselves the Kanaka Maoli) to near genocidal conditions… By shamelessly exploiting the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, the Bush Jr. administration set forth to steal a hydrocarbon empire from the Muslim states and peoples living in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf and Africa under the bogus pretexts of (1) fighting a war against international terrorism; and/or (2) eliminating weapons of mass destruction; and/or (3) the promotion of democracy; and/or (4) self-styled “humanitarian intervention”/responsibility to protect. … This current bout of U.S. imperialism is what my teacher, mentor and friend Hans Morgenthau denominated “unlimited imperialism” in his seminal work Politics Among Nations (4th ed. 1968, at 52-53): … It is the Unlimited Imperialists along the lines of Alexander, Rome, Napoleon and Hitler who are now in charge of conducting American foreign policy. The factual circumstances surrounding the outbreaks of both the First World War and the Second World War currently hover like twin Swords of Damocles over the heads of all humanity” [28].

James Cogan (a staff writer for the World Socialist Web Site): “The pretext for the US attack is the sinister and dubious allegation that Assad’s air force used chemical weapons in an attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday. The claims are dubious, above all, because the Syrian government had no motive to use such weapons, knowing that it would be seized upon to demand that Trump order a direct US-led intervention. The Islamist rebels, by contrast, along with their CIA advisors, had ample motive under conditions in which they are facing complete military defeat. Moreover, the Al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra militia is known to be in possession of, and to have used chemical weapons… On the other side of the world, an indication of how numerous US allies may respond has been given in Australia. The country’s defence minister was phoned by US officials several hours before the US strikes. Australia has fighter-bombers and other aircraft operating with American forces in Syria and Iraq. Both the [Coalition] government and the main Labor Party opposition have made statements fully endorsing the US strike, though Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not confirm if the Australian military would join attacks on the Syrian government” [29].

Colin Todhunter (a former social policy researcher and an independent writer and author writing on food, agriculture, geopolitics and globalization): “We now have the situation in Syria where deception once again trumps reality as the US seeks to gain support for broadening its military campaign to balkanise Syria and redraw the map of the Middle East. Unfounded claims about Assad using chemical weapons are front page news, mirroring similar baseless claims that occurred a few years back and mirroring the lie of WMD in Iraq. Millions are dead in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan as the US and its allies play out a continuation of a modern-day ‘Great Game’… The world is in the grip of a structural war against people, land, economies and ecosystems. It is being waged by organised, institutional criminal interests bent on monopolizing energy, food and violence across the globe. From farmer suicides and failed Bt cotton in India and the impacts of glyphosate in Argentina to war in Syria and beyond, theirs is a neoliberal doctrine of death and destruction” [30].

Kim Petersen (a former co-editor of “Dissident Voice”): “DN [Democracy Now] begins with the leading statement of “worldwide outrage mounts over an alleged chemical weapons attack in Idlib province, which was reportedly carried out by the Assad government…” No evidence is presented to support the accusation, and the accusers also are unnamed. What kind of journalism is this? It would be completely nonsensical and insane for Syria to use chemical weapons while the war is turning in its favor. And, of course, there is evidence that refutes the allegation. For the record, when a Zionist and war criminal Barack Obama was bent on attacking Syria in 2013 following false accusations that the Assad government used sarin gas in Ghouta, Syria – to preempt the threatened invasion Assad agreed (UN Resolution 2118) to give up Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons (a deterrence against Israel’s nuclear weapons). Now the Syrian government stands accused of using a chemical that was disposed of under international supervision. Is the Syrian government that stupid to risk another threat of invasion by using a non-conventional attack? And why is this new gas attack in Idlib taking place just after Rex Tillerson declared that it is the Syrian people who should decide the fate of their current president?” [31].

The US attack on Syria violates International Law.

International Law says that a nation can only invade another country (a) if it has been invited to do so by that country, (b) if it or another nation has been invaded by that country, or (c) if it has been permitted to do so by the UN Security Council, with extensive pre-invasion dialogue being a fundamental requirement. In this instance, (a) the Syrian Government has not invited the US to invade its territory, (b) the Syrian Government has not invaded the US, (c) the UN Security Council has not permitted such a US invasion of Syria, and there has been no extensive pre-invasion dialogue (e.g. of the kind that preceded the illegal US, UK and Australian invasion of Iraq in 2003). Trump and his war-making associates are war criminals in gross violation of International Law and his US Alliance lackeys like Canada, Australia, the UK, France and Germany are accessories to this US war crime. Consider the following expert, humane opinions:

The words of Sacha Llorenti (Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Nations) at the UN Security Council (UNSC) about the US attack on Syria are worth repeating in this context: “[As the UNSC was] discussing and demanding the need for an independent and impartial investigation [into the Idlib atrocity, the US was] preparing—once again—to carry out a unilateral attack… The United States has not only unilaterally attacked, the United States has become that investigator, has become the prosecutor, has become the judge, has become the jury. Whereas the investigation would have allowed us to establish an in an objective manner who is responsible for the attacks, this is an extreme, extreme violation of international law… [UN has] developed instruments of international law to precisely prevent a situation where the most powerful attack the weakest with impunity and to ensure a balance in the world… [historically] many episodes in which…various powers…have acted unilaterally and violently. But that it happened once again does not mean that the UN must accept it” [16].

John Wight (journalist widely published in Alternative media and more progressive Mainstream media): “Without any recourse to international law or the United Nations, the Trump administration has embarked on an act of international aggression against yet another sovereign state in the Middle East, confirming that neocons have reasserted their dominance over US foreign policy in Washington. It is an act of aggression that ends any prospect of détente between Washington and Moscow in the foreseeable future, considerably increasing tensions between Russia and the US not only in the Middle East but also in Eastern Europe, where NATO troops have been conducting military exercises for some time in striking distance of Russian territory. In the wake of the horrific images that emerged from Idlib after the alleged sarin gas attack, the clamor for regime change in Damascus has reached a crescendo in the West, with politicians and media outlets rushing to judgement in ascribing responsibility for the attack to the Syrian government. No one knows with any certainty what happened in Idlib, which is why an independent investigation should have been agreed and undertaken in pursuit of the truth and, with it, justice” [32].

Taj Hashmi (who teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University and author of several books including “Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan”): “The US has no international mandate to work as the custodian of any world order. There’s nothing called “US exceptionalism” in any textbook on international law or diplomacy. Any unilateral invasion of another country, without prior approval from the UN Security Council, is a flagrant violation of international law, hence a war crime. Unfortunately, the US has been behaving like a bull in the china shop since its annexation of Mexican territories in the 1840s. It’s invading countries, almost non-stop and with impunity from Hawaii to the Philippines, Hiroshima to Honduras, Indo-China to Indonesia, Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya, and Syria – and in the process, has killed multiple millions of innocent civilians across the world. Instead of justifying the latest US aggression in Syria, it’s time to condemn it as war crime. The UN should ask US to apologise to Syria, and pay compensation for the illegal attack” [33].

Rosemarie Jackowski ( humanitarian journalist, activist, and author of “Banned in Vermont”): “The attack on Syria is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, International Law, and the Geneva Convention. Why did President Trump make this disastrous decision? We may never know why. BUT we do know that the decision was not made to protect those ‘beautiful little babies’. No U.S. president in recent history has ever placed any value on the lives of babies, children, or any other civilians. Remember Madeleine Albright saying that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children were ‘worth it’. U.S. Policy is so devoid of any compassion that it dehumanizes those we kill and refers to them as “collateral damage”. When Trump says he did it to protect babies, we need to ask which babies. The babies starving to death in Somalia, the babies we kill with drones, the babies in Yemen, the babies who drown while escaping a war zone, the Palestinian babies, the babies who are refugees that we will not allow in our country. No, President Trump does not care about the beautiful babies. That is not why he used Tomahawk Missiles in Syria” [34].

The official Korean news agency KCNA quoting an unnamed spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry: “The US missile attack against Syria is a clear and unforgivable act of aggression against a sovereign state and we strongly condemn this. The reality of today proves our decision to strengthen our military power to stand against force with force was the right choice a million times over” [35]. One notes that 28% of the North Korean population was killed in US bombing in the 1950-1953 Korean War [36], a Korean Genocide with genocide as defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention being “:acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” [37].

The Russians and Syrians may possibly be lying or telling the truth, but the US and its allies are unequivocally lying about the Idlib chemical weapons disaster.

Truth is the first casualty of war. The Russians and/or the Syrians may be (a) telling the truth (if they had no hand in the gassing atrocity) or (b) lying (if they were responsible). However in the absence of a report from expert, independent investigators, Donald Trump and his US and US Alliance supporters are undoubtedly and unequivocally lying by baldly asserting that the Russians and/or the Syrians were responsible because either (a) they do not actually know what happened, or (b) were actually complicit in rebel use of poison gas as a false flag pretext for US military intervention.

UK PM Theresa May is an interesting exception within the US Alliance because, while supporting the war criminal US action against Syria, she is awaiting proof of the Syrian Government’s complicity in the Idlib atrocity: “We condemn the use of chemical weapons in all circumstances. If proven, this will be further evidence of the Syrian regime’s barbarism”. I am quite sure that Theresa May was brought up as a “nice girl who doesn’t lie” by her parents and has read the brilliant and exquisitely truthful works of English novelist Jane Austen who, like Theresa May, was daughter of a Church of England clergyman. Jane Austen’s novels were set in the utterly peaceful and rarefied environment of the English upper class at the time of the Napoleonic Wars and the consistent theme in all her novels was utter detestation (“disapprobation”) of untruth and deception (see my huge book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” [38]).

Endlessly racist and serial war criminal American Governments have invaded over 70 nations but lie and always need a pretext.

The 4th of July is Independence Day for the United States of America and commemorates the 4 July 1776 Declaration of Independence for America, the key passage of which is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Unfortunately entrenched American racism has grossly violated the proposition that “all men are created equal” and the worst form of racism involves invasion and devastation of other countries. The US has invaded about 70 countries since its inception and has invaded a total of about 50 countries since 1945 [39-41] . Indeed I have suggested that the 4th of July be celebrated as Independence From America Day [39]. A properly informed World needs to urgently declare a transition from the 4th of July as Independence for America Day to the 4th of July as Independence From America Day.

To be precise, the US has invaded 72 countries (including Syria; 52 after WW2). The list does not include the 1801-1805 US Marine Barbary War operations against Barbary pirates based in Morocco , Algeria , Tunisia and Libya , and also ignores massive US subversion of virtually all countries in the world and US bases in about 75 countries [39]. By way of comparison, over the last millennium the British have invaded 193 countries, Australia 85, France 82, Germany 39, Japan 30, Russia 25, Canada 25, Apartheid Israel 12 and China 2 [41-46].

The remarkable thing about American imperialism is that it always requires an “excuse for war” or “casus belli” . The excuses for war are typically pretexts purveyed by remorseless Mainstream media lying [47-50] and in particular by Mainstream media fake news by lying by omission [49, 50]. Consistent and monumental American Government and pliant Western Mainstream media lying is compelling evidence in itself for the utter fraudulence of the US Government’s 9-11 deception. Numerous science, architecture, engineering, aviation, military and intelligence experts have concluded that the 9-11 atrocity (about 3,000 killed) was a US Government false flag atrocity (with likely Zionist and Israeli complicity) that was used as a pretext for the post-9-11 War on Terror [51, 52]. The US War on Terror (in reality a genocidal US War on Muslims) has, so far, been associated with 32 million Muslim deaths from violence, 5 million, or imposed deprivation, 27 million, in 20 countries invaded by the US Alliance since 9-11 [53]. The US-mediated Syrian Holocaust and Syrian Genocide (0.5 million dead, 11 million refugees) is part of a wider and horrendous Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide and a genocidal, Zionist-backed US War on Muslims [54].

The 9-11 false flag deception that led to the genocidal invasion of Afghanistan by the US Alliance and thence 20 other countries from Mali to the Philippines [52-54], must take its place with other excuses for American imperialist wars e.g. defeat of American invaders at the Alamo ( seizure of present-day South-western USA, Texas and California from Mexico), the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor (blamed on the Spanish by the Yellow Press; Spanish-American War), the sinking of the arms-laden Lusitania (long-term British denial of arms shipment; US entry into WW1), Pearl Harbor (permitted to occur notwithstanding and US and UK pre-knowledge; US entry into WW2) [38]; Korean invasion of their own country (Korean War), the fictional Gulf of Tonkin Incident (US Indo-China War), alleged threat to US students (US invasion of Granada) , General Noriega’s longstanding CIA-linked drug involvements (US invasion of Panama), and false claim of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (war criminal invasion of Iraq by the US, UK and Australia) [40, 41, 51].

Just as there is no report from an independent investigation of the Idlib atrocity proving Syrian Government guilt in this atrocity, so there has been no formal trial of those accused by the lying Bush Administration of the 9-11 atrocity. Indeed the FBI had Osama bin Laden on its Most Wanted List but not for his alleged complicity in 9-11, an allegation that he denied [52]. Osama bin Laden was allegedly killed by US forces in 2011 and his body rapidly disposed of at sea according to the endlessly lying Obama Administration. Further, Western Mainstream media continue to remorselessly lie by commission and lie by omission for a genocidally racist, serial war criminal and exceptionalist America [47-50].

Trump’s crocodile tears over Syrian children as he makes war on famine-wracked and starving Somalia and Yemen populations (50% children).

Trump is a pathological liar and falsely justified his illegal attack on Syria on the basis of the Idlib atrocity and the horrible deaths of about 30 children: “My fellow Americans: On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror. Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council” [55].

Trump has only been in power for several months but he has inherited the bloody mantle from his predecessor as US President, Barack Obama, as the world’s leading war criminal, warmonger, war-maker, opiate drug pusher, and killer of men, women and children. Under Trump the US Alliance is making war in 20 significantly or substantially Muslim countries and the US per se is directly making war in 8 of these countries, namely (West to East) Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The UN reports that 20 million people – half of them children – are now facing famine and starvation in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Child-killer Trump is obscenely and unforgivably making endless war in Somalia and Yemen, countries with populations (50% children) of 11.2 million and 27.9 million, respectively, and which are presently ravaged by drought, famine and starvation [56].

In the 14-year post-9-11 period of September 2001- November 2015, there were an estimated 26.8 million Muslim avoidable deaths from deprivation in 20 countries invaded by the US Alliance since 9-11 [53] i.e. 26.8 million/14 = 1.91 million avoidable deaths per year. For impoverished Developing countries, under-5 infant deaths are about 0.7 times the avoidable deaths and hence there were 1.91 million x 0.7 = 1.34 million under-5 infant deaths per year in these invaded countries. If 90% of these infant deaths were avoidable then there were 0.9 x 1.34 million = 1.21 million avoidable under-5 infant deaths per year or 1.21 million /365.25 = 3,312 such avoidable under-5 year old infant deaths each day from war-imposed deprivation . War criminal Trump as leader of the US Alliance is killing these 3,300 Muslim under-5 year old infants each day through imposed deprivation just as surely as if he were bombing, shooting or gassing them [41].

Final comments and conclusions.

The ultimate in racism is invading another country “with intent to destroy in whole or in part”, conduct that is defined as genocide by the UN Genocide Convention [52] When Trump was elected worried people asked who is next in the American firing line? Now we know – Syria, that Trump now seems to have condemned to de facto Balkanization and endless civil war on the pretext of the Idlib atrocity but without expert determination of who was actually responsible. Who is next after Syria? North Korea, one supposes, as a missile-armed and one supposes nuclear-armed US battle fleet heads for Korea. And then, who is next after North Korea? And after them … ? Of course one can well ask “Why America?” Why not civilized, neutral Sweden, civilized neutral Switzerland or indeed civilized, army-free Costa Rica to police the world? The honest answer to these questions reveals that the US has been invading country after country for over 2 centuries for hegemony and resources and not for “freedom”, “democracy”, “human rights” or the well-being of innocent children.

It is claimed that about 90 Syrians including about 30 children were killed in the alleged gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib in Syria [57] . About 0.5 million people have been violently killed so far in the Syrian Civil War and a similar number of Syrians would be expected to have died from war-imposed deprivation [41, 54]. About half of the Syrian population are children and one can accordingly conclude that the US Alliance support for the Syrian Civil War means critical complicity in the killing of 0.5 million Syrian children through violence or war-imposed deprivation. 32 million Muslims, about 16 million them children, have died from violence, 5 million, or imposed deprivation, 27 million, in 20 countries invaded by the US Alliance since the US Government’s 9-11 false flag atrocity [53].

Too obvious to make it to the Ten Commandments is the fundamental human imperative: “Thou shalt not kill children”. That wonderful Palestinian humanitarian Jesus declared: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” [58]. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, anti-war demonstrators chanted “Hey, hey, USA, how many kids did you kill today?” The answer today with America ruled by child-killer Trump is about 3,300.

US President Donald Trump has inherited the war criminal mantle of his blood-stained, child-killing predecessor and is continuing the genocidal and mass pedocidal, Zionist-backed US War on Syria and US War on Muslims. What can decent Humanity do in the face of this mass murder of men, women and children ? Decent Humanity must (a) inform everyone they can, and (b) urge and apply Boycotts Divestment and Sanctions ()BDS) against a remorselessly war criminal US and its complicit US Alliance supporters. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity.

[38]. Gideon Polya, “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”, G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2008 edition that is now available for free perusal on the web: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ .

[41]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, that includes a succinct history of every country and is now available for free perusal on the web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ .